Pseudo Patriots Shown in True Light

For the last two weeks there have been numerous stories floating around about the U.S. private military contractor Blackwater operating inside Pakistan. Websites led by pseudo-Patriots and Conspiracy Theorists like Shireen Mazari and Ahmed Quraishi have pushed these theories. They have claimed knowledge on the basis of their “close ties to the military-intelligence establishment.

Rational Pakistan and many other like-minded websites have on the other hand been trying to present the truth to Pakistanis –Blackwater is not operating inside Pakistan.

Newspaper editor rebuked for misusing ISI name
Daily Times – Site Edition Sunday, September 20, 2009

* Female editor told to refrain from claiming her views mirror those of military, intelligence leadership

ISLAMABAD: Security agencies have rebuked the female editor of a Lahore-based English daily after taking notice of a campaign allegedly launched against the government and its relations with a foreign country by journalists who claim to have been briefed on the matter by the army or intelligence agencies.

Last week, the investigators of one of the country’s leading intelligence agencies visited the newly-appointed female editor and demanded she furnish concrete evidence of her newspaper’s claims of US security contractor Blackwater operating in Pakistan.

The security officials, during a meeting that lasted more than an hour-and-a-half, found that she kept changing the names of the people who had provided her with the information when asked to substantiate her claims on Blackwater’s alleged presence. A senior official who accompanied the investigators became very agitated by the claims, asking the editor to make sure she checks her facts before she publishes or comments on any reports.

No ties: The officials also told the editor to refrain from claiming close ties with the intelligence agencies and claiming – as she did recently during a television programme – that her point of view was mirrored by the military or intelligence leadership. The sentiment has been echoed by the military leadership, which has criticised the tendency of a certain section of the media to attribute its claims to sources within the military or intelligence services. This has included the intelligence services stating that media reports of Blackwater operating in Pakistan are baseless

It does not take much to figure out that the “female editor of a Lahore-based English daily” is Shireen Mazari, the “Lady Taliban” of Pakistani journalism. It should come as no surprise that Dr. Mazari is making up statements to support her positions which undermine the effort to defend Pakistan. She has long been doing the bidding of her Taliban masters, despite the fact that, under their rule, she would be relegated to cooking their koftas.

It continues to be a bizarre story how Dr. Mazari believes that by supporting her Taliban masters she will have a great career. For one, Pakistanis are sick of the Talibani violence against the people and culture. Also, if her Talibani masters will have no patience for a woman in school, much less a woman with a Ph.D. who wants to be in control.

Who does Shrieen Mazari think she’s fooling? Under a Talibani/Jamaat-e-Islami government, Dr. Mazari would be the first to disappear. The irony of democracy is that only with the freedom and protection of a democratic government can Shireen Mazari continue her outlandish ways.